Teenage girls at Don Dale forced to shower while under constant surveillance, Parliament hears

TEENAGE girls at Don Dale youth detention centre are being forced to shower while under constant surveillance, Parliament has heard

Teenage girls at Don Dale youth detention centre are being forced to shower while under constant surveillance, Parliament has heard

TEENAGE girls at Don Dale youth detention centre are being forced to shower while under constant surveillance, Parliament has heard.

Opposition Leader Gary Higgins asked Chief Minister Michael Gunner in Parliament on Thursday to comment on reports that girls were being held in the high security “B-block” of the notorious prison-turned-youth detention centre, where they were made to shower “under the watchful eye of surveillance cameras”.

Neither Mr Gunner nor Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield refuted the reports in Parliament.

Mr Gunner blamed “a set of facilities inherited from the CLP” for problems in youth detention facilities.

“They’re not great facilities; not up to scratch at all,” he said.

He referred to the Government’s commitment to replace Don Dale entirely, as set out in the recommendations of the royal commission into youth justice.

But a new facility won’t be complete until 2021 at the earliest.

“While they’re not the best, they’re the best we have and it is simply the situation we have,” Mr Gunner said of Don Dale.

“We know it’s not great but we’re spending a lot of money trying to make these facilities better.”

Ms Wakefield said her department was undertaking a staged renovation of the girls’ quarters.

Deputy Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said it was “beyond comprehension” that Ms Wakefield didn’t confirm or deny the shower reports.

“It was a simple question and the Minister should be ashamed that she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, answer,” she said.

“The responsible minister needs to either advise why the cameras need to be on, or commit to switching them off.”

Late on Thursday, Ms Wakefield confirmed to the NT News cameras were rolling in the girls’ shower block, but claimed they were “configured so that young people can have privacy”.

“We respect the privacy of young people in our care. We also need to ensure that all staff and young people at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre are safe and secure,” she said.

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“There are a number of cameras within Don Dale, including in the area for females.

“Cameras are used as a security measure and to monitor the safety and wellbeing of young people throughout the facility.”

Ms Wakefield didn’t respond to questions asking if boys were subject to the same treatment. Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne told the NT News she wasn’t aware of reports of girls showering under surveillance.

The royal commission into youth justice devoted a chapter of its final report to the treatment of girls in detention.

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It found girls at times “suffered unequal treatment” in detention centres, partly because the centres were not built with young women in mind.

Commissioners Margaret White and Mick Gooda wrote that girls sometimes didn’t take showers as only male staff were rostered on.

“At times, male youth justice officers showed inappropriately sexualised behaviour towards girls and young women and otherwise behaved towards them in a way that did not meet society’s expectations,” they wrote.